Student Center / Space
A Partial Solution
In November 2009, acting on USS’s suggestion, the Provost’s Office announced that later this year the new Student Space will open at 90 Fifth Ave, above TD Bank at 14th and Fifth. This is great in some ways, but is not a complete Student Center which any University still needs.
It does resolve the urgent need for a place to study and gather. It is a large space which will be divided into desks and hopefully resolves needs expressed by NSSR and other students that they need a place to study, socialize, and gather between classes, in order to replace the space lost at the old 65 Fifth Ave — and it provides a much improved home for the Office of Student Development and Activities (OSDA).
On the minus side, this is not a Student Center since it contains no practice space for drama, jazz, mannes, film and Parsons students; no large Party Room or bar, no space for students to reserve rooms, no offices for USS, the Free Press, and WNSR Radio, etc etc etc. We are grateful for the Study Center, but we still need a Student Center and USS will continue to campaign for such a facility.
What is a Student Center
The New School might be the only University in the Universe that doesn’t have a Student Center. A typical student center has social space, a cafeteria, a campus pub, study space, meeting rooms, a party space, the student government office, the office of campus activities, mailboxes, some student services, an ATM, offices for student groups, and a student store. Also, students could reserve rooms there directly through OSDA and USS, which is particularly important due to the broken system the university currently uses to control space.
We have no idea how this University could have kept expanding to the degree it has without prioritizing this basic community need (and why the personnel department has a glamorous 6000sf penthouse in the sky when we have no Student Center, which is a whole other subject), but now is the time to do it.
How big would a Student Center be, and what is in it?
USS’s Proposal for a Student Center requires 6000-9000 usable square feet (the size of one typical office-building floor). Basic needs are as follows:
(a) LARGE SPACES — A large meeting room, a cafeteria, and a hangout space with sofas and TVs and a campus pub. These spaces would be 800-1000 sq ft each, but could be combined into a 2600 sq ft room for a large event like a dance, comference or student assembly. (This would reduce demand on the only other large room on campus, Theresa Lang.);
(b) STUDY SPACE — At least 1000 feet of sound-insulated study space (This is met by the current plans for 80 Fifth);
(c) OFFICE SPACES — at 100sf each for: the Office of Student Development and Activities (6 offices); The director of Campus Activities; The USS Office (2); The Free Press; WNSR Radio; The Health Educator; the LGBT Center; the ALANA Center; and an intake office for Crisis Management, Counseling Intake, and the University Ombudsperson.
(d) MAILBOXES – The University should consider offering students a mailbox service at the Student Center. Students have to move all over New York City, and this would also give students a reason to visit the Student Center daily, creating community.
(e) STUDENT STORE — Our student store would sell products, books, and films created by our design, film, and writing students. This would make money both for the school and for the students, and serve to promote our design and creative programs.
The Student Center should be open 24/7 most of the week, or at least until 2am. This adds to about 6000 square feet. Certainly 8-10,000sf would do it. And finally, it needs to be in the immediate vicinity of the central campus buildings, since its fundamental purpose is to unify the campus community.
What other benefits would a Student Center have?
• Recruitment and retention. The Student Center would be a great advertisement for future students, and would retain current students by giving them a place to study, helping them make friends, improving campus services, creating a rich program of student and community events and chance encounters, and reducing conflict between different constituencies over space.
• Increased availability of office space and other meeting rooms. The Student Center would free up 20 office spaces throughout the university, reduce demand on Theresa Lang, Wollman Hall, and Tishman Auditorium, and make up for the loss of Fogelman Library, Swayduck Auditorium, Machinist Conference Room, and Wolff Conference Room.
• Reduction of bureaucracy to students. The Student Center would mean students could plan an event without having to suffer the overwhelming bureaucracy of the current broken room reservation system.
• Public statement of support for OSDA, LGBT, ALANA, USS, and the Free Press. By putting these important University programs in a public place, students would be encouraged to get involved in everything.
How big is 8000 sq ft?
8,000 feet is less than one floor at 79 Fifth Ave / 6 E 16 St. With the economic downturn, office and commercial (ground-level) space is much cheaper than it was a year or two ago. We could either rent new space for the Student Center, or move other functions into new office space to free up Student Center space at ground level in an existing building.
One possible space is the basement — and/or a new level below the basement — of 66W12, 65W11 and the courtyard. An escalator could go down from the 66W12 lobby, and a skylight could let in light from the courtyard. Another possibility is the very interesting vacant lot at the SE corner of 13th and 5th. These are just a few ideas.
What’s the status?
We are concerned that because the great new Study Space is being referred to as a Student Center, interest will wane in getting an actual Student Center. We hope the facilities committee will still consider an actual Student Center since establishing on would make this a truly great campus, and would not require very much space considering the wide-ranging benefits.
– University Student Senate, February 2010